According to the passage, today’s successful firms, unlike successful firms in the past, may earn the greatest profits by:
The best answer is D. The passage sets up a contrast with “traditional” ways to benefit from marketing a product by stating that market place success based on leadership in “mass production and distribution” is characteristic of today’s companies, not those of the past.
Choice B is incorrect because it describes the way in which companies have achieved success in the past.
Choices A and C are incorrect: they present ways of earning profits that are not discussed in the passage.